THE ANCIENT PIT-DWELLERS OF YEZO. 419 



as the extreme end of Kiushiu. Such evidence we find in the distribu- 

 tion of geographical place-names, which are obviously of Aino origin, 

 in the names of famous characters in Japanese mythology, which are 

 certainly of Aino derivation, and in the contents of kitchen-middens or 

 shell-heaps, which are numerous here and there along the coast. 



The writer has briefly summarized the evidence of Aino occupancy of 

 Japan in the paper following this one. The character of the pot- 

 tery found in the shell-heaps is entirely different from any pottery 

 made by the aucient Japanese. The material is the same as that 

 of the Japanese sepulchral pottery, but the shapes of the vessels are 

 not the same and the decoratiou upon them is absolutely distinctive. 

 Strange as it may seem, the pottery of the shell-heaps is far more elab- 

 orately decorated than any ancient pottery of Japanese origiu. 



Plate lxxiii shows a number of specimens from the large collection of 

 M. l'Abbe Furet,of Hakodate, which 1 was very kindly permitted to pho- 

 tograph. Many of these are covered with complex designs, such as are 

 absolutely unknown on Japanese pottery. The small fragments repre- 

 senting parts of human figures are, so far as lam aware, unique. Owing 

 to the absence from home of the collector, I was unable to learn any- 

 thing about them. 



The ancient Japanese pottery comes from burial mounds which are 

 prehistoric, or at least which date from a time before the year A. D. 

 400, when the authentic records of Japan begin. The pottery of the 

 shell-heaps, often designated as Aino pottery, although more elaborately 

 decorated, must be older thau this, and it would seem to afford indis- 

 putable evidence that the Japanese were preceded by an aboriginal 

 people, who were potters. We find the same kind of pottery in Yezo, 

 in the shell-heaps atOtaru, near Sapporo, on the small island Benten- 

 jiina, in Nemuro harbor, about ancient pits in Kushiro, and about sim- 

 ilar places on the Island of Yeterof. Associated with it everywhere 

 are found arrow-heads and other implements, such as may be found 

 scattered over many parts of Yezo in the surface mold at the present 

 day. 



The question then arises, to what people shall we attribute this spoil 1 

 It has been supposed that the shell mounds were left by the Ainos. 

 This is the opinion of Prof. John Milne. But we immediately come face 

 to face with the fact that the Ainos of the present day do not make pot- 

 tery. The claim is made, upon rather insufficient ground it seems to me, 

 that the Ainos formerly did make pots ; but if so, it is strange that iu 

 all my journeying among them I found no indications of such handi- 

 work, nor of their need of such utensils. I can not bring myself to be- 

 lieve that a people who not only possessed that useful art, but who also 

 acquired such a degree of artistic skill in decorating their productions, 

 could have absolutely lost it. Certainly it could not have disappeared 

 within a century, as we must suppose if we accept all the evidence we 

 possess of Aino pot making. 



